This disclosure relates generally to humidifiers. More particularly, this disclosure relates to humidifiers for increasing the moisture content of the ambient atmosphere.
There are three types of conventional humidifiers. In the first type, a heater mechanism to produce hot steam. This type of humidifier is the most efficient at saturating the ambient atmosphere with moisture and the heater mechanism bacteria from becoming a problem. However, the boiling water produced by the heater mechanism create safety issues if the humidifier is tipped over or hit sufficiently hard to cause the water to spill out of the humidifier.
The second type utilizes forced evaporation to humidify the ambient atmosphere. The forced evaporation mechanism includes a media that may be soaked with water and a fan. The media provides a surface that breaks down the surface tension of water. The motorized fan provides a directional airflow profile that carries away the moisture from the media surface to the ambient atmosphere. The advantage of this system is its simplicity and the saturation rate of moisture in ambient air. However, the relatively stagnant water source and the wetted surface area of the media provide ideal environments for the growth of bacteria. Accordingly, periodic maintenance is required to clean the media and sterilize the water source.
In the third type, a nebulization device breaks the water source into water particles, often with a visually impressive effect. However, the ultra-sonic transducers commonly used as nebulization devices can only produce water particle sizes in the range of 3-5 mm. Since these water particles are relatively large, they do not remain suspended in the air long enough to effectively saturate the ambient atmosphere, the droplets falling out of suspension to cover the surrounding surfaces with moisture.